Love food hate waste

It pays to be a food lover...

Each month, the average family throws away £50 worth of food that was bought but not eaten.  Simply by not wasting food you could save up to £600 a year. 

Did you know?  Every day we throw away: 

• 5 million potatoes
• 7 million slices of bread
• 1.3 million yoghurts and yoghurt drinks

This means £4 billion worth of food is being thrown away every year because we cook, prepare or buy too much.  This amounts to 6.7 million tonnes, and most of this is food that could have been eaten! 

When we waste food, we also waste the energy, water and packaging involved in producing, transporting and storing the food.  What's more, food that gets sent to landfill contributes to climate change as it creates methane gas when it rots down. The good news is that with a bit of thought we can stop most of this waste from going to landfill and save ourselves up to £50 a month by following some simple steps:   

1. Find out more For more detailed information about food waste and how you can reduce it visit the Love Food Hate Waste website (www.lovefoodhatewaste.com)

2. Cook the right amount Many of us waste food by overestimating what we need when buying and cooking food. Find out how to cook just what you need by using the Love Food Hate Waste portion planner - simply type in the name of the food you’d like to measure.

3. Plan ahead Plan your meals and take a shopping list with you so that you only buy the food you will eat.  Beware of ‘buy one get one free’ offers and only buy them if you know you will use or freeze the extra one.

4. Use your leftovers Any leftovers can be made into great new meals or why not take them for your lunch the following day? For great ideas and recipes for what to do with all sorts of leftovers go to Love Food Hate Waste.  Simply type in the food you have left over and choose the recipe to suit you.

5. Store food carefully Keeping your fridge temperature between 1 and 5 degrees C will help keep things for longer. Store items such as fruit in the fridge to make them last. Don’t forget to use your freezer!  There are plenty of things that you can keep in your freezer including many things you may not have realised. It’s also worth keeping a stock of staple, long lasting foods such as rice, to help you cook up any left over food without having to take an extra trip to the shops. To find out more about the ways you can store your food go to Love Food Hate Waste.

6. Know your food labels The most important food label to follow is the ‘Use by’ one.  Food which reaches its sell by date can still be eaten but may be past its ‘Best before’ date – the exception to this are eggs which should not be eaten after this date.  For more information on food labelling, please go to Love Food Hate Waste.

The West of England Councils work together to reduce food waste.....

Throughout September and October 2009 the 4 West of England Councils worked together on a joint campaign to reduce food waste across the region. We ran radio and press ads, advertised in our Council magazines and did events all across the region to promote the Love Food Hate Waste message.

We asked residents to fill in a food diary for 7 days to find out how much they wasted in a week. Residents that included a food waste reduction suggestion on the diary were entered in to a competition to win a cookery master-class for two, donated and hosted by the Cookery School at Bordeaux Quay in Bristol.

There was one winner from each authority area, and the master class was held on Saturday 28 November 2009. 5 runners up from each area also won a pack of goodies donated by Lakeland in Bath.

To find out more about food waste, the campaign, and what was going on in your area, click on one of the links below:

Bath & North East Somerset
Bristol City Council
North Somerset
South Gloucesteshire